You Are My Paradise
by SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: Loki has waited hundreds of years for his soulmate, but then when he finally gets dreams about the man, he had absolutely no clue how to find him. Though that's most likely just because of the fact that he is looking on the wrong planet entirely. (one shot) Please feel free to let me know if there are any mistakes. This was mostly written in a tired haze.


The little boy's idea of heaven was a place where he would be in a giant workshop with all the materials and tools he would need to build things to his heart's content, and his father would be nowhere in sight.

That was the first thing Loki knew about his soulmate, and he hated that he could immediately identify with the boy, at least on some level. Apparently both of them had fathers that they did not get along well with. But the biggest problem Loki had with this entire notion of soulmates was the part where he'd had to wait for over eight hundred years before he had his first dream of his soulmate.

Everyone else on Asgard had been joyous to dream about their soulmates from a young age, and having no dreams was just another way that had made Loki stand apart from the others. He'd spent his whole life being ostracized, and looked down on. And now his soulmate finally decided to show up?

Though if he was being honest, Loki couldn't truly be mad at the boy, because he looked very young, which meant that he'd probably just started having his dreams of Loki as well. That was the one plus side to being as infamous as he was. Even though his soulmate was young now, in a hundred years or so, once his mate was ready, it should be easy enough to track down Loki, considering he was a prince.

Though that didn't account for just how impatient Loki felt. He'd never fit in with anyone before (besides his mother, but that didn't really count because it wasn't the same), and the idea that after all this time there really was someone out there who was perfect for him? Well, it was just too tempting to resist.

The problem was that Loki had no idea where to even begin searching for his mate. He had no idea what the boy's name was, or what city he lived in. All he really knew was that the boy enjoyed building things, disliked his father, and was very intelligent. All of which were things that Loki could respect. Which made sense, of course. The Norns wouldn't pair up two people who weren't compatible.

He could not track down his mate, but the dreams continued over the next several years. Loki was quite alarmed by how quickly his mate grew. No Asgardian would go from looking so young to looking like a young adult in such a short amount of time. Perhaps there was some kind of fascinating magical explanation, though Loki was puzzled as to what purpose a mage would have in forcing themself to grow up faster. And he'd also never seen any signs of his mate having magic, which made sense. Magic was seen as a woman's work, and clearly Loki's mate was much better at getting along with people, which meant that he didn't need to turn to magic just to fill his time.

Every time Loki dreamt of his mate's most pained days, it tore him up to not be able to find the man and comfort him and be there for him. Despite how many friends he had, Loki's mate seemed just as lonely as Loki was, if the dreams were anything to go by. Of course, they could also just be complete abstract nonsense that had nothing to do with reality, but Loki preferred to think that his mate had a logical enough mind to just dream about what he actually went through. He also couldn't help wondering how much his mate had learned about him through the dreams. Eventually, Loki even learned that the man's name was Anthony. Unusual, but not rare enough to help Loki find him anywhere.

One night, Loki went to sleep, and felt pain and despair and terror, and Loki wanted nothing more than to rescue his Anthony from whatever was causing those nightmares. The intense dreams continued for months before finally shifting into something a bit quieter, but more lost and saddened than ever before.

It felt like it was almost immediately after that that Thor went and got himself banished to Midgard, despite Loki's attempt to defend his brother. That's when the realization finally hit, and Loki had to wonder if this was all just the Norns' idea of some kind of a joke. Anthony grew so fast, and thought about many things that were clearly not of Asgardian nature. The only world with people who resembled Asgardians and also had such short life spans was Midgard. Loki's mate was a mortal. And if Loki didn't hurry to meet him, the man would be dead and buried between one blink and the next.

So Loki took the opportunity to follow Thor to Midgard, but didn't care to do anything else with his brother. The revelations about his true nature paused him for a moment, because surely no one would be able to love a monster. But then he realized that the Norns must've chosen Anthony for a reason. Out of all the Asgardians or Jottun or anyone else, Anthony had been chosen to be his. And Anthony was also considered a monster by many of his people. It was one of the things that still plagued him at night.

Loki was hesitant, but he continued on anyways, because he had to meet his Anthony, and make sure that the man was okay. His dreams had been getting darker and darker lately, and Loki was frightened that he would get there too late to save the man from his own self-destruction.

Once he was actually on Midgard, Loki didn't have to look far before figuring out where to start his search. Anthony went by Tony, and his family name was Stark. He seemed to be about as close to royalty as this planet had, at least in terms of someone ruling over the entire world, and not just smaller regions within it.

If this were any other situation, Loki would most likely stop and make time to take in all of the sights. Midgardians could be rather creative and clever little creatures when they put their minds to it. Which was logical. If they lived such short lives, they were surely motivated to work even quicker and harder so that they could be finished with their legacies before their lives were over.

But this wasn't any other situation, and the only Midgardian Loki cared to find was Tony. He soon found himself standing in front of a tall tower that proudly displayed the Stark name, and then he went inside, going straight to the floor that he could sense Tony being on. As soon as he laid eyes on the man, Loki sent a silent apology to the Norns for ever doubting their choice for him.

He cautiously approached the mortal, who was busy sipping at a glass of something while rubbing his fingers up and down on a colorful sheet of glass. It was a very delayed reaction before Tony finally looked up, and Loki was grateful that no one else had broken in before, because clearly Tony was not able to defend himself at the moment. He must be drinking some kind of alcohol, even if it didn't look like any of the kinds Loki knew of.

Tony furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, but didn't seem overly alarmed by an intruder in his bedroom. Maybe he could also sense their soulmate connection? Though Loki was pretty sure that he remembered reading somewhere that Midgardians are the only realm to not have soulmates, so he wasn't sure.

Tony set aside his piece of glass, and then gulped down the rest of what was in his cup before looking at Loki again. "I must be drunker than I thought to be hallucinating a leather-bound twink in my room."

Loki narrowed his eyes. "Perhaps this would be a conversation best held when you are sober, then. It is of a matter far too important to risk a misunderstanding, or you forgetting about it."

Tony pouted, and then tipped his head back to look up at the ceiling. "This guy does not sound fun enough to be a hallucination. Or maybe that's exactly why he is a hallucination? No, that can't be it. If I was going to see anything un-fun, it would probably be Dad or Obie. J, I trust you to tell me the truth. Is there a sexy, un-fun man standing in here right now?"

Well, regardless of whatever else Tony was babbling about, at least Loki had confirmation that his soulmate found him attractive. Then he was startled (though he refused to show it) when a disembodied voice answered Tony. "Yes Sir, there is."

Tony's eyes widened, and he looked over at Loki in shock. "Why didn't you alert me to someone coming in here? How did he even-?"

"It appears that he did not set off any of my alarms, Sir," the voice responded apologetically. "Would you like me to send up one of your suits?"

Loki wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but he did know that if Tony got too defensive and they started fighting, then it would be very difficult to convince the mortal that they were not enemies. So he teleported to stand directly in front of the smaller man, and gave him a kiss. Though he knew it wasn't quite fair to kiss someone without asking first, he also knew that the first kiss was how a soulmate bond was confirmed and solidified. Usually that meant that most couples didn't kiss until their wedding night (though of course that didn't mean that other physical activities were off the table). But those were also couples that already knew all about soulmates, so Loki hoped he'd get a pass for this one.

Though the way that Tony immediately and violently shoved Loki away made Loki wonder about Tony's past, and filled him with an intense need to utterly destroy all who dared to harm his mate. "What the hell, man?" Tony demanded. "Who do you think you are?"

"I am Loki. I am your soulmate. I do apologize for being so forward, but I just- just needed to assure myself that you are real. That our connection is real. I know that it is not proper to greet one's mate in such a way, but it seemed the easiest way to avoid having to fight with you."

Tony scoffed. "You assaulted me to avoid a fight? Clearly they do things very differently where you're from."

Loki nodded in agreement. "That is correct. Asgard is very different than Midgard in many different ways. I look forward to helping show you the many wonders of my world, if you are amenable to such a thing."

There was a pause that lasted a few seconds, and then Tony's eyes widened as he stared at Loki. "Asgard? Okay, clearly you are insane, and kindest thing that I can do for you now is call a mental hospital to come and pick you up."

Loki furrowed his eyebrows. "Surely you must have had the dreams about me? Even if you mortals do not understand what soulmates are, the fact is that you are my soulmate, and it is a bond that stretches between us in both directions. It is something that is meant to connect us and bind us, because we are each other's perfect match."

Tony sighed wistfully. "Believe me, I would love it if soulmates were real, but I hate to break it to you pal, they're not. It's something out of a novel or a fanfiction or something. I'm not the kind of guy who deserves that kind of happy ending." He blinked a few times. "Damn, I must really be more drunk than I thought to be talking like this to a complete stranger."

"We are not strangers," Loki insisted. "Not really. I have had dreams of you since you were a child, and you must have had dreams of me. But that is all stuff that can be discussed tomorrow, when you are more sober. Sleep off your inebriation. I will watch over you and ensure that nothing bad can happen to you."

Tony gave Loki a suspicious look, but then he just yawned, and abruptly turned around to walk away from Loki. Hopefully it was towards a bed that he could flop down into for the night. Once Loki was certain that Tony was sleeping, he settled down to watch over his soulmate and protect the man in his vulnerable moments.

Despite needing hardly any sleep at all to maintain his ability to function properly, Loki must have drifted off, because he found himself waking up with a jolt when something warm was pressed into his hands. He automatically clenched his fingers, and then finally opened his eyes and looked down to see a mug of tea. Tony shrugged at Loki's questioning look. "I figured that if you were still here in the morning, and not just some kind of weird hallucination, then you deserved to wake up to a hot drink."

Loki couldn't help feeling pleased at the thought of his mate going out of his way to make something for him to consume, and immediately went to drink some of the tea. It was very bitter and strong, and had no traces of sugar or milk in it, but if only because it had been made for him by Tony, it seemed to taste delicious, and he quickly swallowed down the mug's entire contents.

Tony sipped at the mug in his own hand, and leaned back against the wall that was nearest to Loki. "So soulmates, huh?"

Loki grinned. "Yes."

Tony shrugged. "You mentioned having dreams. I don't think I've ever actually seen you before, but I guess I can recall a couple of times when I've had really weird dreams that didn't make any sense to me. But if those are true, then that would make you some kind of wizard?"

"Mage," Loki corrected gently. "But yes, I do have control of the magical arts."

For a moment, the expression on Tony's face was completely unreadable, but then a wide smile pulled his lips back. "Magic sounds like it's just science that nobody understands yet. If you're willing to show off enough for me to try and figure out how it works, then I'm willing to hear you out about all this soulmate stuff. Deal?"

So maybe it wasn't going to be as easy for him as it was for the others he'd known. But when had life ever been easy for Loki when compared to the other Asgardians? And besides, if there were no challenges to overcome, then Loki would probably doubt the truth of the idea of Tony being his actual soulmate. So he just reached out his free hand to shake Tony's. "Deal." He was looking forward to getting to know his soulmate much better, and couldn't wait to get started.


End file.
